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Bamboo Club Halloween / Hardcore Tiki Marketplace

We had free time on Saturday and Bamboo Club was already on our short-list but after seeing that the Hardcore Tiki Marketplace was happening we made sure to visit for lunch and some shopping. It is a nice vibe for the marketplace, including a DJ and about 15 vendors, and is set up on the first Saturday of the month. I ended up purchasing a small PNG mask and a Tiki Tolteca mug.

Nightmare in Anaheim Street

Bamboo Club is decorated for Halloween under the moniker Tremble Club and we felt the overall aesthetic was pretty good. The immersive feeling is best if you’re seated in the booths like we were, though the decor on the patio is pretty nice as well.

There’s also a special cocktail menu and I really enjoyed the Nightmare on Anaheim Street, a nod to the horror classic and Bamboo Club’s street address, which is a whiskey sour with amaro and Campari. Our cocktails were balanced very well and I also had burger that was fantastic.

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Killer Klown Halloween Overlay at Dr. Funk

Dr. Funk did a Beetlejuice overlay last October and the tiki bar is back with a new theme this year: Killer Klowns from Outer Space. If you’re not familiar, this is based on the “cult classic” film from 1988 – and there are few things scarier than aliens that resemble clowns! The decorating committee certainly did a fantastic job, including a circus themed light display outside, plus decorated booths, giant mutant popcorn kernels, and a few Killer Klown figures.

There’s a special menu available including a deep fried Twinkie that I wanted to hate but I can’t lie – it’s amazing. There are also four speciality cocktails:

Peanut Gallery – if you’re looking for something that’s more traditional for a tiki bar, this is the item to choose. It has a balanced approach including rum you can taste plus banana flavors from the liqueur and the “circus peanut elixir.” This was my favorite, though regular readers know I’m a nut for circus peanut flavor.

Peanut Gallery

Chubby’s Fix – this clarified cocktail has mild rum flavors and a bright blue passionfruit float. It tastes great and the foam sort of melted into the cocktail to make the whole thing blue, making this another standout.

Chubby’s Fix

Cotton Candy Cocoon – Coconut leaning and not particularly spirit-forward, and very heavy on the matcha-pandan milk syrup. Mrs. Mai Tai likes pandan and appreciated it much more than I did.

Cotton Candy Cocoon

Human Puppet – a lighter cocktail featuring Cocchi Americano, so a wine-forward taste, and includes a flashing cube inside. Again, not very rummy.

Human Puppet

Dr. Funk is getting pretty good at the pop-up/overlay thing and Killer Klowns is no exception. The theme is interesting and unique, something to seek out this month in downtown San Jose.

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Pirates Dinner Adventure Swashbuckling Fun

Our Buena Park weekend continued at the Pirates Dinner Adventure, a swashbuckling counterpart to Medieval Times down the street. The show includes a detailed plot, two romantic subplots, acrobatic performances, songs, fight scenes, and plenty of elements to involve the crowd. Dinner includes soft drinks plus soup or salad and a chicken main course – plus utensils to eat with that aren’t provided at the other place. This was a fun time with our large group, some of which dressed up for the event.

After entering the venue, there’s a bar to order alcoholic drinks, plus a large gift shop if you want to outfit yourself for the event and to get into the pirate spirit. The drinks here are definitely not craft, though if slushy drinks are your thing there are a couple options and lots of beer/wine selections.

I looked at the “Caribbean Mai Tai” and saw that it contains three kinds of flavored rums with Captain Morgan Coconut Rum, Captain Morgan Pineapple Rum, Cruzan Guava Rum, plus Orange and Cranberry Juice; I decided to pass but was pleased to see that Sam took the plunge. Meanwhile, I kept in the spirit of the event by building my own “Pirate Boilermaker” by pairing an Octoberfest beer with a shot of Captain Morgan Spiced rum, yum.

Pirates Boilermaker

The crowd certainly seemed to enjoy the show, including a couple who were celebrating their 10th anniversary – being married inside the Pirates Dinner Adventure! There were several opportunities for the audience to participate in some of the show elements, such as hoisting a flag, and of course lots of cheering for the pirate who matched the color of your section.

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Spooky Fun at The Cauldron

Our SoCal trip continued with another visit to the horror-themed bar The Cauldron near our Knott’s Berry Farm Hotel, with an offer of a discount if you come costumed as witches or vampires. They don’t offer reservations for large groups but Brenda booked the secret room for our larger group. It would be perfect for sacrificial ceremonies but we stuck to appetizers and cocktails.

The Cauldron definitely puts an effort into making interesting drinks, even if their rum selection leans sweet. I ended up going with the Devil’s Margarita that has a float of red wine that looked great and tasted quite amazing. The staff were even able to make a cherry-leaning cocktail that David tried on an earlier trip, and generally we found the cocktail game to be pretty good here.

Inside, the spooky vibe was in full effect thanks the every day decor and also to other groups getting the memo on the dress code – lots of witches or just people in pumpkin gear.

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Jedi Mind Tricks at Oga’s Cantina

Disneyland has undergone a procedural change in how guests can enter Oga’s Cantina, the bar inside the Star Wars-themed Galaxy’s Edge. Where previously you could make reservations online or make a day of reservation at the venue and come back when the slot was ready, the new process is completely based off a stand-by line.

The most obvious change in visiting is actually psychological, perhaps some sort of mind trick from the Jedi forces running the cantina. When you make a reservation that’s good for 90 minutes you often would stay for the full 90 minutes. But when it is standby, you have no specific expectation of a time slot and so we saw many guests leave after one round and we ourselves were in and out in less than an hour. All of which means that the line moves fairly quickly, which we think is an overall net-benefit for this venue which is still a lot of fun.

Mrs. Mai Tai and I were on a quick half-day visit to see the Halloween offerings at Disneyland but we took refuge from the muggy conditions. We absolutely loved the Garlic Cheese bread and revisited some favorite cocktails that we thought were pretty good. The Outer Rim with tequila and a puree topping no longer includes the salted rim but is still well done, as is the Coruscant Cooler with bourbon. Julie’s Jet Juice came in a little glass, similar to those little orange juice glasses you get at brunch, and my Jedi Mind Trick featured grapefruit in the best of ways.

The standing table we were at wasn’t too bad, we made friends with the first group but found the second to not able to understand how to fit people into the available space, and our server was right on top of everything. We enjoyed DJ Rex and the music which thankfully wasn’t too loud, so this was a very successful mission.

Coruscant Cooler / Jet Juice
Jedi Mind Trick / Outer Rim
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Mai Tai by Firelight

Dr. Funk has been doing “traditional tiki Tuesday’s” for a couple years now, featuring a rotating set of DJs and all day happy hour. This week brought Doc Parks down to the South Bay for his last Tuesday slot of the year, so we made sure to come out for dinner and drinks.

There was an indoor buyout until 8:30, so we found a cozy spot on the patio by one of the heaters. The wind was higher than normal and we noticed that the planes are flying in the opposite direction from the airport, but it was still pretty pleasant outside and the drinks and food certainly helped. I went with the Mai Tai of course – always delicious- plus the Dark ‘n Stormy riff called Myers’s Storm due to the use of Myers’s single barrel rum. Even with “easy ginger beer” this was still a bit much for me, so maybe I should just ask for “just a splash” next time.

DJ Doc Parks

Doc’s DJ set was pretty eclectic, including a crowd pleasing set of surf songs but also some 70s leaning songs that included a funky Beastie Boys instrumental. Doc even pulled out some organic percussion instruments to keep the crowd on their toes. Definitely not “traditional tiki” but Doc’s set was still really great and not modern.

We caught a peek at Dr. Funk’s Killer Klowns decor for Halloween, which starts today, and was pretty impressed. Be sure to make reservations or arrive early, there are going to be heavy crowds all this month.

Myers’s Storm and Killer Clown
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Tequila + Rum Recipe: So Long Summer

I ran across this recipe from Deb Parks, wife of famed bartender Doc Parks, celebrating the end of summer. The recipe uses tequila and cane juice rum, a combo I hadn’t tried, so I thought I’d give this a shot and see if any of Doc’s mixology skills have rubbed off on his better half.

So Long Summer by Deb Parks
¾ oz Fresh Lime juice
¾ oz Fresh Grapefruit juice
½ oz Cinnamon Syrup
½ oz Passionfruit Vanilla Syrup
l oz Fortaleza Tequila Blanco
l oz Kō Hana Kea Rum
Shake with ice and dirty dump. I subbed El Jimador Blanco for the tequila.

This is a pretty good cocktail, especially if you like things that lean just a little dryer than you sometimes find in tropical cocktails. The combination of tequila and the lightly grassy Hawaiian cane rum really works great together and aren’t quite as assertive as something like Mezcal or Rhum Agricole might be. The grapefruit is fab in here, too – and as we know from Don the Beachcomber grapefruit and cinnamon pair very well. Save this refresher of a recipe for when you want to relive the summer.

Autumn is now here, but we’ll always have this cocktail to remember the summer of 2025. Cheers.